The best time to practice compassionate, attentive care is today

The ICU nurse positioned the mirror in front of my face.

“You look more like yourself now, Dr. Berk,” she said.

She was right! The nurse, whose name was Meghan, had just shampooed, dried and brushed my hair. Clean and coiffed for the first time in over a week, I appeared normal — except, that is, for the tubes sticking out of my left nostril and my mouth.

It was 2009, and my …

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